I couldn’t bear to watch the video, but I read an article about the treatment of pigs in breeding and slaughter facilities. I’ve tried to be the rancher’s granddaughter, and not be sentimental about animals. We are, after all, omnivores and it’s hard to fight a million years of evolution, but if I can’t find a way to buy humanely raised and slaughtered meat I may have to try going vegetarian. Pigs are smart. As smart as dogs, maybe smarter. Ugh. Yes, I know, it’s a first world problem, when men, women and children are being slaughtered around the world, but the animals have no volition. They can’t flee. Can we at least make their lives less tortuous and give them a humane death?
Dare I? Can I?
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 4, 2013 | Blog | 2 comments
2 Comments
Submit a Comment Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I don’t know about other “product” animals, but the federal guidelines for free-range chicken specifies simply that the birds must have “access to the outdoors”. Producers comply with this by supplying a door to an outside pen barely big enough for them to turn around in. They let them revel in this luxurious freedom for 5 minutes per day in order to meet the letter of the law.
It’s a sad commentary that it is necessary, but if you want to ensure that your meat consumption comes from farms that follow genuinely humane practices, you need to know the producer.
Ugh. I hate the way companies just nod toward the law and honor the letter rather than the spirit. That’s a good point. I’m trying to figure out a way to stay healthy — it takes a lot of research to go vegetarian and get enough nutrients, but I hate this brutality. I’m fairly level headed when it comes to animals — that rancher grandmother helped, but the suffering is so upsetting. I’m also in a place where I get emotionally shaken fairly easily. Not sure what that’s about, but this article really shook me.